Approaches to Byzantine Architecture and its Decoration: Studies in Honor of Slobodan Ćurčić

334 Pages·2016·7.869 MB·English

by  Mark J. Johnson, Robert Ousterhout, Amy Papalexandrou (eds.)

Approaches to Byzantine Architecture and
its Decoration
The fourteen essays in this collection demonstrate a wide variety of approaches
to the study of Byzantine architecture and its decoration, a reflection of both
newer trends and traditional scholarship in the field. The variety is also a
reflection of Professor Ćurčić’s wide interests, which he shares with his
students. These include the analysis of recent archaeological discoveries;
recovery of lost monuments through archival research and onsite examination
of material remains; reconsidering traditional typological approaches often
ignored in current scholarship; fresh interpretations of architectural features
and designs; contextualization of monuments within the landscape; tracing
historiographic trends; and mining neglected written sources for motives of
patronage.
The papers also range broadly in terms of chronology and geography, from the
Early Christian through the post-Byzantine period and from Italy to Armenia.
Three papers examine Early Christian monuments, and of these two expand
the inquiry into their architectural afterlives. Others discuss later monuments
in Byzantine territory and monuments in territories related to Byzantium
such as Serbia, Armenia, and Norman Italy. No Orthodox church being
complete without interior decoration, two papers discuss issues connected
with frescoes in late medieval Balkan churches. Finally, one study investigates
the continued influence of Byzantine palace architecture long after the fall of
Constantinople.
Mark J. Johnson is Professor of Medieval Art and Architectural History at Brigham
Young University, USA.
Robert Ousterhout is Professor and Graduate Chair in the Department of the History
of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Amy Papalexandrou is an Independent Scholar and Lecturer at the University of
Texas at Austin, USA.

Approaches to Byzantine
Architecture and its Decoration
Studies in Honor of Slobodan Ćurčić
Edited by
Mark J. Johnson, Robert Ousterhout, and
Amy Papalexandrou
First published 2012 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2012 Mark J. Johnson, Robert Ousterhout, Amy Papalexandrou
and contributors
Mark J. Johnson, Robert Ousterhout, and Amy Papalexandrou have asserted their
right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Approaches to Byzantine architecture and its decoration: studies in honor of
Slobodan Ćurčić.
1. Architecture, Byzantine. 2. Decoration and ornament, Byzantine. 3. Decoration
and ornament, Architectural–Byzantine Empire. 4. Religious architecture–
Byzantine Empire.
I. Ćurčić, Slobodan. II. Johnson, Mark Joseph. III. Ousterhout, Robert G. IV.
Papalexandrou, Amy, 1963–
723.2–dc22

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Approaches to Byzantine architecture and its decoration : studies in honor
of Slobodan Ćurčić / [editors], Mark J. Johnson, Robert Ousterhout, and Amy
Papalexandrou.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-2740-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Architecture, Byzantine.
2. Decoration and ornament, Architectural. I. Ćurčić, Slobodan. II. Johnson,
Mark Joseph. III. Ousterhout, Robert G. IV. Papalexandrou, Amy,
1963– V. Title: Studies in honor of Slobodan Ćurčić.
NA370.A67 2011
723’.2–dc22
2011017015

ISBN 9781409427407 (hbk)
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Abbreviations xvii
A Tribute to Slobodan Ćurčić, Scholar and Friend 1
Svetlana Popović
Introduction: Approaches to Byzantine Architecture and the
Contribution of Slobodan Ćurčić 11
Mark J. Johnson, Robert Ousterhout, and Amy Papalexandrou
Part I: The Meanings of Architecture
1 Polis/Arsinoë in Late Antiquity: A Cypriot Town and its Sacred
Sites 27
Amy Papalexandrou
2 The Syntax of Spolia in Byzantine Thessalonike 47
Ludovico V. Geymonat
3 Church Building and Miracles in Norman Italy: Texts and Topoi 67
Mark J. Johnson
4 Armenia and the Borders of Medieval Art 83
Christina Maranci
vi Approaches to Byzantine Architecture and its Decoration
Part II: The Fabrics of Buildings
5 Change in Byzantine Architecture 99
Marina Mihaljević
6 Prolegomena for a Study of Royal Entrances in Byzantine
Churches: The Case of Marko’s Monastery 121
Ida Sinkević
7 The Rose Window: A Feature of Byzantine Architecture? 143
Jelena Trkulja
Part III: The Contexts and Contents of Buildings
8 Between the Mountain and the Lake: Tower, Folklore, and the
Monastery at Agios Vasileios near Thessalonike 165
Nikolas Bakirtzis
9 Life in a Late Byzantine Tower: Examples from Northern Greece 187
Jelena Bogdanović
10 Imperial and Aristocratic Funerary Panel Portraits in the Middle
and Late Byzantine Periods 203
Katherine Marsengill
11 Man or Metaphor? Manuel Panselinos and the Protaton Frescoes 221
Matthew J. Milliner
Part IV: The Afterlife of Buildings
12 Two Byzantine Churches of Silivri/Selymbria 239
Robert Ousterhout
13 Interpreting Medieval Architecture through Renovations: The
Roof of the Old Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome 259
Nicola Camerlenghi
14 The Edifices of the New Justinian: Catherine the Great Regaining
Byzantium 277
Asen Kirin
Contents vii
Bibliography of Published Writings 299
Index 305